Thursday, November 29, 2012

A constitution
is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which
a state or other organization is governed. These rules
together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is. When these principles
are written down into a single or set of legal documents, those documents may
be said to comprise a written constitution.

Constitutions concern different levels of
organizations, from sovereign states to companies and unincorporated
associations. A treaty
which establishes an international organization is also its constitution in that it would define how
that organization is constituted. Within states, whether sovereign or federated, a constitution
defines the principles upon which the state is based, the procedure in which
laws are made and by whom. Some constitutions, especially written
constitutions, also act as limiters of state power by establishing lines which
a state's rulers cannot cross such as fundamental rights

Media
can contribute a lot to a society. It can change opinions because they have
access to people and this gives it a lot of strength. This strength can either
be used constructively by educating the people or it can be used destructively
by misleading the innocent people.
Power of the media can transform the whole society especially in the developing
countries it can be used as a 'weapon of mass destruction'. But I think the
most important use of media is to educate the people about the basic human
rights.

The dilemma
of the developing countries is that people are not fully aware of their basic
rights and if they know, they don't know about what to do and where to go. They
don't know their collective
strength. Even they don't know how to protest and what is the importance of
protests. Media should portray the facts. They should not transform the
reality.

Education and discipline is key to progress. This is the difference between a nation and a crowd. Media men have
access to people and they have an audience. Their programs have an impact and
people listen to them. That's why they are more responsible for the betterment
of the society. They should work to educate the people, to help the people and
to liberate the people and to empower the people.

Media plays a very important role in the building of a
society. Media has changed the societies of world so much that we can't ignore
its importance. First of all we should know what the media is. Media is a
source of information or communication. Media includes sources like print media
and electronic media. Newspapers,
magazines and any other form, which is written or printed, is included in print
media and in electronic, media radio, television and Internet etc. are
included.

In this age when there are so many channels and newspapers we cannot ignore its
importance in the society. Media has lot of responsibility on its shoulders as
today's society is very much influenced by the role of media. We believe in
what media projects to us. We change our minds according to the information
provided through it.

In the past when the media was not so strong we were quite ignorant about what
is happening around us. But today we come to know very quickly what is
happening around us. We have the access to all the international news channels
that provide us the facts and figures. Considering this fact that media has the
power to influence society, it should know its responsibility towards society.
It should feel its responsibility
to educate the society in a positive way. It should be giving us fair analysis
and factual information.

But if
there is a constructional defect the media can’t do their normal day to day
work because the constitution binds them together. for instance the 1992
constitution of the republic of chapter 12 states how the media should operate
in Ghana.

Again
the media has very little to do if there is a constitutional defect , for
instance the right of information to the people will be blocked and the media
will limit their information . But they must do well to inform the public about
what is happening to the constitution.

Research
into the media and violence if there is a constitutional defect
examines whether a link between consuming media
violence and subsequent aggressive and violent
behavior exists. Although some social scientists
support this link, methodological and theoretical problems with the existing literature limit interpretation
of findings in this area. There is concern among some scholars that media
researchers may have exaggerated effects (Ferguson & Kilburn, 2009;
Freedman, 2002; Pinker 2002; Savage, 2004).

For example, a 2008 editorial in
medical journal the Lancet concluded that discussions of media violence effects
were exaggerated. There are many explanations of aggressive behavior which do
not emphasize the role of the media. For example, some researchers have
suggested that the pathway to aggression is largely biological/genetic
(see the work of Hare, 1993, Larsson, Andershed, & Lichtenstein, in Press,
among others), while others have suggested that aggression can be explained by
principles of evolutionary psychology.

Another
example is the electoral dispute in cote devoir which came about as a result
of a constitutional dispute of who is the right person to declare the result
of the election. And the media in the country is so quiet especially the
foreign media, but the local and state owned media is being used to insight
the people against the opposition party, instead of the media looking for
solution.

To
conclude, if there is a constitutional defect the media has the role of the
agenda setting theory of showing the way of resolving it, taking into
consideration the cote devoir’s constitutional problem.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Recently, the
profession that I cherish and love so much has come under heavy criticism for
their poor quality work. I must I say am very disappointed at the way some
journalist are handling their work. It is rather sad that some people don’t learn
the profession but choose to copy it blindly and pour it to us we the audience.
I must say that this profession is a good one and can be a bad one if not
handle well which can put the country into danger.

Journalism is the investigation and reporting of
events, issues, and trends to a broad audience. Although there is much
variation within journalism, the ideal is to inform the citizenry. Besides
covering organizations and institutions such as government and business,
journalism also covers cultural aspects of society such as arts and
entertainment. The field includes jobs such as editing,
photojournalism,
and documentary.

A journalist is someone who investigates and report events, issues
and trends to a broad audience through
media. The media is the means or instrumentality for storing or
communicating information. Examples of
the media are newspapers, television, radio, and the internet.

The role of a journalist was to act as a mediator or translator
between the public
and policy making elites. The journalist became the middleman. When elites
spoke, journalists listened and record the information, distilled it, and passes
it on to the public for their consumption. The reasoning behind this was that
the public was not in a position to deconstruct the growing and complex flurry
of information present in modern society, and so an intermediary was needed to
filter news for the masses. The public
is not smart enough to understand complicated, political issues. Furthermore,
the public was too consumed with their daily lives to care about complex public
policy. Therefore the public needed someone to interpret the decisions or
concerns of the elite to make the information plain and simple. That was the
role of journalists.

The public would affect the decision-making of
the elite with their vote. In the meantime, the elite (i.e. politicians, policy
makers, bureaucrats, scientists, etc.) would keep the business of power running
the journalist's role was to inform the
public of what the elites were doing. it has been the believe that journalist
are the ears of the public, for that matter they keep their ears close to the
ground for any kind of information that will come from the government, public
figures, politicians and policy makers to the public through the media. An
examples of the media is televisions,
newspapers, radio, internet etc. In Ghana for instance journalists normally
inform the public in their news bulletins and newspaper reviews which is
normally done in the morning. Journalists are not mere transmission belts for
their own viewpoints or for information provided by others. They do
original reporting, they do not confuse fact with opinion or rumor, and they
make sound editorial decisions but a principal responsibility of journalist.
journalists owe their primary allegiance to the public because through a
journalist the public gets to know what is happening around him or her and it
will help him or her to make well informed decisions and this is where politics
and other things comes into it. This is the major work of a journalist since
they hunt for news and later on package it to inform the general public through
a wider medium either newspaper or the radio station. For an example if an
epidemic breaks into the country, journalists use the media to inform the
public about it and the way they should handle the pandemic.

Journalists also act as a watchdog over the elites(i.e. politicians, policy makers,
bureaucrats, scientists, etc.) as the public had the final say with their
votes. Effectively that kept the public at the bottom of the power chain,
catching the flow of information that is handed down from experts/elites. To
furthermore journalist also act like whistle blowers in terms of corruption.
They do their own investigations to reveal the bad deeds of certain key players
in the society and through that the key players are kept on their toes(their
names does not go on air for disgrace ) in order not do anything bad. They do
this by monitoring the government and the politicians so that they do not go
against our country’s constitution and also to keep them up to their task. A
journalist does this to bring development and democracy in our county. For example if a politician or
the government goes behind the scene to do something bad like bribery and corruption journalist investigate it and
bring them out for public knowledge, by doing this the politician or the
government also try not to do anything bad For instance when the ace
investigative journalist ANAS ARMEYAW ANAS uncover the corrupt deeds of CEPS officials in Ghana, the government has taken
serious action against them and most of
the security officials are now alert and they are prepared to do the right things
or else ANAS will be there again to uncover them .

To further more a journalist also plays the agenda setting
role in our country. This is done by the journalist taking a topic or a problem
that has affected the country either in the past or in future. He does this
either by commenting on it or doing a detail analytical documentary on it which
then becomes the public discussion. For
example joy Fm’s programmed a story on newly recruited government workers like
nurses and teachers who have been paid for long time and how they were made to
give themselves to men and to do other things just because they want to make
ends meat. This became public discussion
and some even took it to the higher authority and something was done about this
very particular issue by the government.

A journalist also serves as an opinion leader in our
community and the country at large. They do this by putting their views and comment
in their viewers and listeners perspective and
what they think is affecting the public and what should be done about it.
They do this as in the form of editorials or in the form of
feature stories. For example the chronicle gave their editorials on
Thursday, August 6th, 2009 edition about the double standards of
politicians

Another major role that journalist play in our country is
education. The most important thing that a journalist do is to educate the
public about an issue, problem, event or
epidemic. He does this by contacting
expect on that issue and he the journalist broadcast it or publicized
it. For example when bird flu was first diagnosed in the world it was the
international media who publicized or broadcasted it and they also did some
analytical report on it by contacting health expect.

With this few words I
employ all journalist to sit up to do the right thing now, before and after the
general elections to safe guard our nation

Monday, August 6, 2012

I was not shocked
about his death story because I thought it was one of those creepy rumors until GTV the so called station of the nation decided to broadcast the devastating
news at their own time. It was then that my 60 degrees mouth dropped open with
disbelief, it was then that I told myself ‘Ghanaians you have gotten what you
want”

One must be wondering why a strong man who return from a medical
check up from the United State of America and jogged at the airport for us to
see how strong he was and also celebrated his birthday three days ago before
meeting his untimely death, or should I say timely death since one of our
politician once said “all die be die” passed on like that. His death rumor has
been in the public for far too long and may be the good Lord has decided to
take his own creation back.

. My grandmother will always tell you that one does not
speak ill about the dead and that you must be cordial in language in order to
let the dead rest in peace. Just like other media houses who always want to point
fingers at people and ask vague questions, I will not take that path but you try that path
on your own if you finish reading this.

It popped up in 2008 which I stand to be corrected, rumors
making rounds about his death and his subsequent trip to south Africa for
medical attention, he himself called one of the media house in Accra to debunk
the rumor about his death. It was belief that the rumor was sparked by a member of his own party NDC,
it was there the opposition NPP fed on it and it became a political “bruhaha”

One would have expected his communication team to set the
record straight by put his health record on air to clear the issue of his health to avoid the creepy rumor of his death saga, I stand to be corrected if there was any
.This is because as a president his health is our number one concern. one can
only be healthy before undertaking any official duty. Because we Ghanaians don’t
know the actual cause of his death, people are just cooking and speculating their own
stories..some might be true or not. for example ex president Rawlings said he
died out of cancer which affected his eyes and that he could not sustain it for
3hrs a day

One of his aids stated publicly about how he mounted road
blocks to force the president to come out to greet a crowd that was waiting for
him even though the president was tired after returning from an official road
trip. Even though it was late in the evening. It then occured to me that they
mishandled the president and did not put his health first.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

(CNN) -- The president of the West African nation of Ghana, John Evans Atta Mills, has died, his chief of staff said in a statement Tuesday.He died at a military hospital Tuesday afternoon a few hours after becoming ill, according to the statement, signed by John Henry Martey Newman. The vice president will address the nation soon, the statement said.He was 68.

(BBC)Ghana's President John Atta Mills, who was suffering from throat cancer, has died in hospital in the capital, Accra statement from his office said the 68-year-old died a few hours after being taken ill, but did not give details."It is with a heavy heart... that we announce the sudden and untimely death of the president of the Republic of Ghana," the statement said.Mr Atta Mills had ruled the West African country since 2009.The BBC's Sammy Darko, who is at the military hospital in Accra, says Mr Atta Mills' voice has been degenerating in the last few months.

(Reuters) - Ghana's President John Atta Mills, who won international praise as leader of a stable model democracy in Africa, died suddenly on Tuesday and will be succeeded by his vice-president in the West African oil, gold and cocoa producer, officials said.

Mills was 68. The unexpected death of the leader of the world's No. 2 cocoa grower comes months before he was due to stand for re-election in December.Ghana, also a major African gold producer, started pumping oil in 2010 and posted double-digit growth in 2011, burnishing its image as an increasingly attractive investment destination on the continent. It was praised for its healthy democracy."It is with a heavy heart ... that we announce the sudden and untimely death of the president of the Republic of Ghana," a statement sent to Reuters by the president's office said.Vice President John Dramani Mahama would be sworn in to replace Mills under Ghana's constitution, officials said.

The president's office said that Mills, who celebrated his 68th birthday on Saturday, died a few hours after being taken ill, but no further details were given.A presidential aide, who asked not to be named, said the president had complained of pains on Monday evening and died early on Tuesday afternoon when his condition worsened.

Mills had returned from medical checks in the United States a few weeks ago.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Unconfirmed rumor is
being circulated on social networks indicating the controversial Nigerian
pastor, T B Joshua has predicted massive death of social networks users like
facebook, 2go, twitter and etc tomorrow Wednesday
18th of July in Ghana

I have gathered that most users of the social networks are
panicking whiles some have resulted in attacking the prophet on facebook
questioning his predictions. Interestingly the Prophet himself is having a fun
page on facebook.

According to COSMS
BUZZ blog site, it stated that the rumor started yesterday
predicting the death of only 2go users in Nigeria today but as of filling the
story today no death was recorded

in recent time Pastor T B Joshua has dominated the media for
his controversial prophesies, for now Ghanaians will just be vigil to see what
happens on the 18th of July.

Friday, July 6, 2012

the prolific and all range hihop artist MIKAL has officially dropped his maiden single titled #Ghetto Life, which he featured a Ghanaian based Nigerian artist AJ Omo Alajah.According to the rapper,the song is a true reflection of his experience as a youth, and as well bring the plight of the youth to the spotlight . The song which was released on (28th of June) is already receiving massive air play and download. Mikal has promised his fans to expert more from him, as he work hard to be the next music icon from the volta region and Ghana after Ayigbe Edem. below is the link to the new music

Friday, May 11, 2012

It gives me much joy, pleasure and happiness to let you know the kind of person that i am today, first of all I thank God for your life today..May the almighty God continue to give you your heart desires and make you achieve your uncompleted dreams.
Our people always say “charity begins at home”..and that was what I derived from you .At first we were bond together through umbilical cord and the placenta, I use to kick you anytime am happy and I always here you screamed loudly “ajeii”, at that moment my happiness was your painful moment and you endured it for nine month until the placenta decided to get loose and even after that our bond never changed.
I was told by my grandmother who is your mother (another great woman) about how you suffered before giving birth to me. She encountered how you screamed her name whiles on your labor bed . Exactly that faithful day, I came out peacefully that day but you suffered some difficulties and you went through some operations before you finally regain your health .From that day I was told you vehemently told your mom that you will never give birth again and that I am your last baby, by that you and dad named me “MAKAFUI” which simply means praise thee.
They said I was stubborn during my baby days. Your mom told me that even in public I always fight with you just to have a taste of that succulent breast milk . “I always do the thing unknowingly and spoil the whole environment with the bad odor anytime you are at work” she said . Even though I always disgrace you, you were never ashamed of me rather you always say “etsi tsi ge” which simply means “you will grow up”.
Throughout my twenty plus years I spent my entire child hood days with you and I can remember vividly some of my errors that I have done to you. You always make me happy by getting me that my favorite ice cream which I called “pokupoku” because by then I don’t know how to pronounce them so I alert you by the sound the sellers make just to tell you that I want to eat even though sometimes you don’t buy it for me.
At night I always make sure that you don’t sleep because I have gotten cold and cough from the ice cream that I ate during the day yet you are always awake applying rob and other medicine on ma chest and letting me drink some putting me to sleep before you also retired to bed.
Early in the morning you are the first to wake and I always feel your soft touch on my forehead just to see if my temperature is down.. you then quickly wash me down and prepare my gargantuan “koko” which I called “katsa”, I make sure that I drink this koko till my dress all have the taste of what I was enjoying which then becomes another work for you because you have to wash them and make sure that am always neat. In my time of sickness you are always with me on that hospital bed always praying and calling for God’s help, You spend all your wardrobe money on me.
Mom, my love for you can never be changed, you are like three in one that I have gotten, mom, a sister and a friend. You mean a whole lot to me, you truly define the word “Mom” to me, my life is incomplete without you …you are like
one in a million, like P square song “ no one be like you” .
I am happy that the world has recognized your toil and struggle and we are all celebrating you. You are the reason for this special day. According to mothersdaycelebration.com Motherhood is tough 24 hour job,no pay,no day off, sometimes it is unappreciated, but yet resignation is impossible. A mother is a woman who created by God to bring love, joy, happiness and caring into his world. I am so glad God has created a woman to be a mother, even though motherhood is a full time job, a mother's work is never done. Happy Mother's Day.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

On the 14th of this February Ghana and the rest of the world will be in the news again not for disaster or any other bad news but for the following news. Shortage of condoms, how many babies were born on that day? and parent naming them valentino and valentine, chocolates becoming the most expensive and adorable items of the day, couples and those who are into relationship use sex as the tool to showcase love on that faithful day, and above all the HIV prelavance rate will shoot up after that day.

In Ghana and the rest of the world, we all now believe that valentine’s day is a day for romance but my history tells me that valentine’s day is a religious day set aside by the Romans to commemorate a roman martyrs who was named Valentine but the commemoration was later canceled from the Romans calendar by Pop Pau vi in 1969.
Saint Valentine was a bishop in Rome who defied the then emperor’s order of not conducting marriages again but instead Valentine conducted the marriages for the soldiers in secrets but later he was caught and was put into jail. While in jail it was believed that he was having the characteristics of a saint who heal people and was showing love to others who visit him. Gift and flowers were most of the items presented to him when they visit him until he WAS KILLED ON THE 14 OF FEBRUARY.

But in our modern world of today Saint Valentine’s day have changed completely. Men and women see the day as if is for them and, instead of us showing love to the less unprivileged ones like the children homes, the orphanages and the aged who do not know what is love, rather we choose to do negative things on Saint Valentine’s day.
Fortunately in Ghana chocolate has taken over the tradition of presenting flowers as a gift to love ones as it was being practice by the Romans in the olden days. But now is not only chocolate because pharmacy’s will be complaining about the shortage of condoms and it will be the day where the producers will like to increase the production rate just to reach the number of the customers.

Let us not see 14th February as the day for sex alone but rather lets spend time with those who do not know love and care and lets us spend the day in a religious way and make it a morally day.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

I am not a major player in politics but just a common Ghanaian who have the interest of Ghanaian s at heart. I can say for a fact that we are one of the poorest countries in the world even though we have major natural resources that can migrate us from developing to a developed country.

Unfortunately we don’t manage our resources well less the tax payers money. Currently “Woyome” is becoming one of the popular names in every house hold not for the good reasons but for the bad reasons.

It can be recalled that on the Dec 9, 2011 The Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, has vowed to expose Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome for dubbing the country with huge sum of money. I thought the man was just playing politics with his fellow politician but I have come to realize that Kennedy Agyapong has a point in his outburst because there is no fire without smoke.

The case about Mr. Agbesi Woyome is not clear to some of us in the public considering the huge sum of money which is allegedly being paid to one man in Ghana (gh58 million )
Suddenly, the Attorney General was fired because he was not able to substantiate his “criminal Gargantuan” comment that he made about a colleague minister who he refused to named even though the president asked him to name the person and substantiate it or lose his job,then Madam Betty Mould iddrisu also placed his resignition letter on the table, all in the name of “Woyome.” I will like to see the president demonstrating that he is the father for all by going in depth about the whole issue and bring the necessary fact out in order to punish those who are involve in this corruption behavior.

I am also disappointed in the Auditor general department for the inconsistence about the figures in his report . looking at sensitivity of his office which deals into into money, one should think that it is prudent for the accountant general to do his cross check before coming out with such a report. For now we are just watching and listening .

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

The curse phenomenon has always been in existence since time memorial by oil rich nations like Nigeria, Angola, Libya, and Algeria among others but the question is can Ghana escape from it?
Now that oil has been discovered in Ghana, it is a wake-up call on Ghanians that they do justice to the oil bill currently before parliament.
Ghana is not densely populated like some of the oil countries in Africa but the citizens are worried as to what if the oil becomes a curse to the nation since all the nations before us has not escaped this phenomenon.
Since the first commission of the oil on November 15, 2011 where Ghana produced 55,000 barrels daily and its likely to increase in 3 months as we have learnt, Even though Ghana is not the richest country in Africa, the jubilee field is one of the richest oil field in Africa with proven reserves of 1.8 billion barrels making Ghana sub-Saharan Africa’s seventh largest producers.
According to the World Bank, Ghana is likely to receive an annual average of US$ 1 BILLION ASSUMING crude oil prices of US$ 75 per a barrel of oil profile covering a proven reserve of 500 million barrels of crude oil over a20 year field life. This is based on jubilee phase one project. However, with the new discoveries in Owo 1, Dzata 1 and Tweneboah , the country will receive much more.
Now that the money issue is made bare Ghana has a higher responsibility of being efficient and prudent in public spending, citizen participation, transparency and accountability, health and safety the democracy of the country should also be taken in high esteem, it’s based on their democracy that made President Obama choose it to give hid land mark speech “Yes we Can”
Ghana must also check to prevent oil abundance and violent conflict like what happened in places like Nigeria, Angola, and Venezuela as the youth of Jomoro district are doing by agitating against the development of gas infrastructure by the GNPC for fear of their livelihood, and also the demand by the chiefs for 10%.
If the country is able to do all these things as best as they can it will be the first country to break the oil Curse phenomenon and it will be included in the Africa Maritime and Energy (AME) Awards which main objective is to promote better public appreciation and support for the maritime and oil related business I Africa, strengthen corporation and healthy competition amongst players in Africa.
Others that can enjoy from this award night include shipping agent of the year, news maker of the year, and port of the year, best trade facilitation, and Maritime administrator among others
Taking this path will help improve the oil’s protection which will yield massive income for the nation and contribute on its developmental issues. However, this can be achieved by educating some of the citizens to participate in the oil and gas sector as the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) is into.-- Mary Wilmot